A revelatory look at our national power grid--how it developed, its current flaws, and how it must be completely reimagined for our fast-approaching energy future. America's electrical grid, an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, is turning out to be a poor fit for the present. It's not just that the grid has grown old and is now in dire need of basic repair. Today, as we invest great hope in new energy sources--solar, wind, and other alternatives--the grid is what stands most firmly in the way of a brighter energy future. If we hope to realize this future, we need to reimagine the grid according to twenty-first-century values. It's a project which forces visionaries to work with bureaucrats, legislators with storm-flattened communities, moneymen with hippies, and the left with the right. And though it might not yet be obvious, this revolution is already well under way. Cultural anthropologist Gretchen Bakke unveils the many facets of America's energy infrastructure, its most dynamic moments and its most stable ones, and its essential role in personal and national life. The grid, she argues, is an essentially American artifact, one which developed with us: a product of bold expansion, the occasional foolhardy vision, some genius technologies, and constant improvisation. Most of all, her focus is on how Americans are changing the grid right now, sometimes with gumption and big dreams and sometimes with legislation or the brandishing of guns. The Grid tells--entertainingly, perceptively--the story of what has been called "the largest machine in the world": its fascinating history, its problematic present, and its potential role in a brighter, cleaner future.

The history of the grid, the world's largest interconnected power machine that is North America's electricity infrastructure. The North American power grid has been called the world's largest machine. The grid connects nearly every living soul on the continent; Americans rely utterly on the miracle of electrification. In this book, Julie Cohn tells the history of the grid, from early linkages in the 1890s through the grid's maturity as a networked infrastructure in the 1980s. She focuses on the strategies and technologies used to control power on the grid—in fact made up of four major networks of interconnected power systems—paying particular attention to the work of engineers and system operators who handled the everyday operations. To do so, she consulted sources that range from the pages of historical trade journals to corporate archives to the papers of her father, Nathan Cohn, who worked in the industry from 1927 to 1989—roughly the period of key power control innovations across North America. Cohn investigates major challenges and major breakthroughs but also the hidden aspects of our electricity infrastructure, both technical and human. She describes the origins of the grid and the growth of interconnection; emerging control issues, including difficulties in matching generation and demand on linked systems; collaboration and competition against the backdrop of economic depression and government infrastructure investment; the effects of World War II on electrification; postwar plans for a coast-to-coast grid; the northeast blackout of 1965 and the East-West closure of 1967; and renewed efforts at achieving stability and reliability after those two events.

Investigates the systems of infrastructure that sustain the world and the cultures of historical periods, following various elements, from electricity and pavement to water and waste disposal, back to their origins and people who operate them.

Poetry. In this exquisite third book, Bert Stern grapples with the elemental and the extraordinary, looking back on the length of his journey and finding realms of possibility, powerful proof of a life well lived. Moments of divine recognition pervade these poems--their rough terrains, their changing atmospheres and stunning grace--culminating in a profound sense of gratitude for the tactile world. Here is a poet writing at the height of his powers.

'A highly original, electrifying read' The Times 'A stylish, riveting thriller' Daily Mail 'An assured page-turner ... it combines action and foreign locations with big ideas a la Dan Brown' Sunday Times The US President Thompson has been dreaming of his own death. A repeating nightmare that hounds him night after night that he can't ignore: something tells him it's not just a dream, it feels too real. Thompson's doctor, military psychiatrist Josh Cain, is summoned to a church tower near the White House. He thinks he is there to talk down another suicidal ex-Marine. But the man he finds tells him of a plot to kill Thompson, revealing secrets he can't possibly have known - just seconds before a sniper's bullet takes him out . . . Battles have been fought man to man, then machine to machine, and even in cyberspace. But now there is a different battlefield emerging: human consciousness and the fight for our minds. What readers are saying: 'A classy, intelligent and reflective investigative thriller.' 'A layered plot, engaging characters and a spine chilling ring of truth to the plot, which lured me in and kept me trapped until the final page.' 'A real page turner with plenty of surprises and twists. Great read.' 'THE BEST BOOK THAT I'VE READ ALL YEAR!'

____________________ This ground-breaking book from award-winning author MATT WATKINSON reveals the fundamental, inseparable elements behind the success of every business. The Grid provides the mental scaffolding to help you: · Evaluate and refine product and service ideas · Reduce risk by considering the broader impact of strategic decisions · Identify the root causes of business challenges · Anticipate the impact of changes in the market and turn them to your advantage · Collaborate more effectively across teams Combining practical guidance with real-world examples, The Grid will bring clarity and confidence to your business decision-making. ____________________ 'The Grid provides you with a simple way to look at the complex system which is your business. With the possible exception of Warren Buffett, everyone needs to read this book.' RORY SUTHERLAND, VICE CHAIRMAN, OGILVY GROUP 'The Grid provides a systematic framework for looking at virtually all the critical aspects of your business, and maybe more valuable, at how each affects the others. It'll be a rare reader who doesn't come away with fresh, useful insights into his or her enterprise.' WALTER KEICHEL III, author of The Lords of Strategy 'Matt Watkinson distils strategic know-how into nine ingenious perspectives and, with the use of clever examples, shows us how to apply this technique of thinking to any business problem or market opportunity. An extraordinarily powerful book.' DR JULES GODDARD, author of Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense 'The Grid presents a unique, joined up approach to decision-making, revealing both the holistic nature of business and all the key elements a business must consider. I can safely say that if you only read one business book in your life it should be The Grid.' PHILIP ROWLEY, Chief Finance Officer, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Off-grid isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t about someone being out of touch, about a place that is hard to get to, or about a weekend spent offline. Off-grid is the property of a building (generally a home but sometimes even a whole town) that is disconnected from the electricity and the natural gas grid. To live off-grid, therefore, means having to radically re-invent domestic life as we know it, and this is what this book is about: individuals and families who have chosen to live in that dramatically innovative, but also quite old, way of life. This ethnography explores the day-to-day lives of people in each of Canada’s provinces and territories living off the grid. Vannini and Taggart demonstrate how a variety of people, all with different environmental constraints, live away from contemporary civilization. The authors also raise important questions about our social future and whether off-grid living creates an environmentally and culturally sustainable lifestyle practice. These homes are experimental labs for our collective future, an intimate look into unusual contemporary domestic lives, and a call to the rest of us leading ordinary lives to examine what we take for granted. This book is ideal for courses on the environment and sustainability as well as introduction to sociology and introduction to cultural anthropology courses.

This comprehensive reference text discusses uncertainty modeling of renewable energy resources and its steady state analysis. The text discusses challenges related to renewable energy integration to the grid, techniques to mitigate these challenges, problems associated with integration at transmission and distribution voltage level, and protection of power system with large renewable power integration. It covers important concepts including voltage issues in power networks, use of FACTS devices for reactive power management, stochastic optimization, robust optimization, and spatiotemporal dependence modeling. Key Features: Presents analysis and modeling of renewable generation uncertainty for planning and operation, beneficial for industry professionals and researchers. Discusses dependence modeling of multi-site renewable generations in detail. Covers probabilistic analysis, useful for data analysts. Discusses various aspects of renewable energy integration i.e. technical, economic, etc. Covers correlation factors, and methodologies are validated with case studies with various standard test systems. The text will be useful for graduate students and professionals in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics and communication engineering, renewable energy, and clean technologies.

The Grid Trilogy Box Set [Enclosed in this box set: Fall of Justice, Quest for Vengeance and Catharsis] The Grid 1: Fall of Justice A fortress city. A terrifying prison. A survivor determined to beat the odds ... Joe Parsons is playing with fire and he knows it. He has no idea what deadly secrets he and his friends will uncover when they finally hack into The City's sinister Fortrillium network. Justice is in short supply in the harsh, decaying world in which he's been raised but Joe is desperate to uncover the truth behind his father's sudden disappearance seven years previously. On the brink of a breakthrough, he is captured red-handed and sent directly to The Grid, a deadly, gamified colosseum from which only one person has ever escaped alive. Hunted by his enemies and in constant danger, Joe must find a way to survive. What he discovers along the way will change his life forever … if he can manage to escape. Fall of Justice is a gripping work of dystopian sci-fi, set in a post-plague world hundreds of years in the future. The Grid 2: Quest for Vengeance Two friends trapped in The Grid ... A President who was there when the plague began ... A conspiracy to keep the truth from those caught in The City ... A man who will stop at nothing to hold his wife and children once again ... Caught in The Grid, Joe Parsons must fight to stay alive as his enemies conspire against him. While his friends work to save him, more startling truths are revealed about President Josh Delman's past. But Damien Hunter is on to the President, and he'll stop at nothing to save the wife and children who were stolen from him. In the second part of The Grid Trilogy, the truth is finally revealed about the plague years and how the decimation of humanity could have been stopped. But one man will do what it takes to keep the truth hidden. The Grid 3: Catharsis The ticking clock which could wipe out humanity ... A deadly deal struck in secret ... The betrayal which sentenced millions to certain death ... A man who will stop at nothing to be reunited with his family ... Only one man can end it all ... In the final part of The Grid Trilogy, Joe Parsons is forced to forge extraordinary alliances in order to survive. Having discovered the mystery at the centre of The Grid, he's not only fighting for his own life, he must now move fast to save the entire city. The secrets of the past come back to haunt President Delman whose actions as a young man damned the citizens to their miserable lives within the high concrete walls. The race is on to beat Catharsis and assure the future of humanity. Can Joe Parsons fight his way back through The Grid and save the remains of humanity? What readers are saying about The Grid Trilogy This book was simply amazing! I was immediately pulled into the story. The conflicts for each of the characters and how everything tied together was riveting! I reached the end of the book and was surprised- I hadn't realized that I had been close to the end. Paul Teague is just that good! Excellent story. Looking forward to reading more. This kept me hooked with the vivid imagery of the ruined city, and the oppression of the climbs. Can't wait to read the rest! I really enjoyed this book, it had everything I look for in a book, had me hooked on page 1. I just found this author and am so glad I did, I can't wait to read more from him Hooked from the get go. Imaginative and believable. Characters feel like your best friends. At least the good guys do! Loved this series. Very suspenseful and full of twists. A very fast paced read.